The Texas trio of Dallas, Austin, San Antonio make an easy circle trip

D. Grant Black, Edmonton Journal09.30.2013

The left-side road leads to Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas and the former Texas School Book Repository. It is outside that bulding (now named the Sixth Floor Museum) where president John F. Kennedy was assassinated in November 1963.
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Lined with lush scenery, shops, hotels, eateries and galleries, San Antonio’s famed River Walk (Paseo Del Rio) is located one level below downtown’s streets. It can be visited on foot or by barge.
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The newly opened Perot Museum of Nature and Science has been called the boldest piece of modern architecture in Dallas. Its glass-enclosed, tube-like escalator travels both inside and outside the building.
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San Antonio’s famed River Walk (Paseo Del Rio) is located one level below downtown’s streets. Lined with lush scenery and shops, hotels, eateries, galleries, it can be visited on foot or by barge.Carol Barrington - DestinationPh
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The newly opened Perot Museum of Nature and Science has been called the boldest piece of modern architecture in Dallas, with its escalator that extends in a tube outside the building.
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The Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas, Texas, is located in Dealey Plaza, the site of president John F. Kennedy’s assassination 50 years ago, on November 22, 1963.
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This outdoor frog exhibit is one of the many hands-on displays at the new Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas, Texas.
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Texas is more than big Stetsons and 72 oz. steaks. To explore the Lone Star state’s cultural, architectural and culinary diversity just visit three of its most engaging cities. Dallas, the fly-in city, and two other personable cities on Interstate 35, Austin and San Antonio, can be easily explored in a one-week circle tour. “Like most passionate nations,” John Steinbeck wrote in his American travelogue, Travels With Charley, “Texas has its own private history based on, but not limited by, facts.”

DALLAS

Dallas is the third largest city in Texas (pop. 1.3 million). This erudite metropolis, underwritten by oil money and characterized by innovation, is adjacent to the city of Fort Worth, which leans toward cowboys and cattle. Check in at the Hotel ZaZa. This luxury boutique hotel in Dallas’ fashionable Uptown neighbourhood is a funky mix, over four floors, of Mediterranean elegance and urban chic (double room, $329-plus).

Drop your bags in the room and explore Dallas. Ride the reconditioned, hundred-year-old streetcars (free) on McKinney Avenue straight to the Arts District, the largest concentrated urban arts locale in the U.S. Nearby is the newly minted Perot Museum of Nature and Science), a boldly designed building that features a tubelike escalator extending outside its walls. Its dynamic exhibits on the natural world, engineering and technology are interactive, and staffed with extroverted guides who enliven and educate visitors. It’s a 10-minute walk to the West End historic district. Here you’ll find the swanky Highland Park Village, opened in 1931. It is a designated National Historic Landmark and the nation’s first shopping centre. More importantly, the district is home to the Dealey Plaza, the site of president John F. Kennedy’s assassination on November 22 — 50 years ago this year. The Sixth Floor Museum is located in the warehouse formerly known as the Texas School Book Depository. On exhibit through October 27 are photographs of JFK’s presidency from the archives of The Associated Press. The self-directed, Dealey Plaza Cell Phone Walking Tour features more than a dozen stops, including the grassy knoll.

For lunch, dine at Fearing’s at The Ritz-Carlton on McKinney Avenue. Kentucky-born Dean Fearing, “the father of southwestern cuisine,” arrived in Dallas as a young chef in the late 1970s to find French the dominant cuisine. Fearing’s, which features “Elevated American Cuisine — Bold Flavors, No Borders,” has received enough national accolades to pack this spacious restaurant, which is frequented on weekdays by lunching socialites and visiting deal makers.

Another tasty McKinney Avenue lunch spot is Texas chef Stephan Pyles’ Stampede 66. Dine on “modern Texas cuisine” dishes such as tasty contemporary barbecue while surrounded by Texas kitsch. Close off your day with dinner at the hip Oak Restaurant. Located in the Design District, this resto sets a relaxed dining tone with smooth electronica beats and multimedia imagery. Executive chef Richard Gras serves nouvelle cuisine concocted from local ingredients.

AUSTIN

Austin (pop. 850,000), the state capital, is only 300 kilometres southwest of Dallas on the speedy I-35. Austin calls itself “Live Music Capital of the World.” The SXSW film and music festival is held in March, Austin City Limits Music Festival in October and this hipster-heavy burg keeps the live-music clubs hopping the rest of the year.

Stay at the Omni Hotel in downtown Austin, a luxury property where you can spot the imposing state capitol lit up like a backdrop for PBS’s Austin City Limits concerts. The Omni (dbls. $160 and up) is close to all the action in the Sixth Street Entertainment District.

When visiting informal Austin, dine with the locals. It’s a short distance from the Omni to Whole Foods’ Lamar store, the flagship property for this Austin-based organic success story. At 7,400 square metres, it’s an upscale organic food warehouse with two levels of underground parking. The prepared-foods section is a combination of deli, ethnic restaurant, neighbourhood diner, Parisian café, barbecue shack, seafood bar, raw foods bar, taco bar, salad bar, sandwich bar, olive bar and wine bar. The tattooed clerk weighs your food before you head to the food court-esque dining area. Torchy’s Tacos, which boasts ten Austin locations, began as “great street food” prepared by Mike Rypka, a former executive chef. Torchy’s tacos are now legendary and these fusion palate rockets come with playful monikers such as “Trailer Park,” “Brush Fire” and “Dirty Sanchez.”

Now you’re fuelled up and ready to explore Austin’s unique independent scene, which includes local institutions such as BookPeople and Waterloo Records, both on Lamar Boulevard.

Venture along South Congress to hit art galleries such as Yard Dog or Guaro’s Taco Bar, another local taquiera, for more fuel and a cold cerveza. A block north is the Continental Club, Austin’s longest running live music venue (since 1957).

SAN ANTONIO

San Antonio, 129 km southwest of Austin, is the second largest city in the Lone Star state (pop. 1.4 million). Home to the Alamo, the River Walk and buzzing street and sidewalk cleaners, it’s a riparian Disneyland with a suburban Six Flags theme park favoured by families and convention bookers. San Antonio’s beautiful downtown, threaded by the San Antonio River, is worth exploring for its cultural, architectural and dining value. Visitors can navigate the famous River Walk on foot or by boat. This eight-km network of walkways situated along the banks of the San Antonio River — one level beneath downtown — is home to bars, shops and restaurants. The Rio San Antonio’s riverboat tour offers unique views of downtown architecture, led by gregarious, Panama hat-attired pilot-guides. Shoppers will enjoy the diverse artisanal shops in La Villita Historic Arts Village, tucked away beside the river. History buffs must take a tour of The Alamo. It’s a downtown shrine to Anglo Texas independence in a city that’s 60 per cent Hispanic. Stay at the Drury Plaza Hotel Riverwalk (dbls. $137 and up), a downtown refuge sculpted from an art deco bank building with a rooftop pool, central location and complimentary breakfast. The clever “Kickback” is a free pre-dinner noshing promotion, complete with cocktails.

Take lunch at Schilo’s Delicatessen near the Drury Hotel. This local institution has served up its authentic German cuisine — once the dominant culture — since 1917. For under $10, enjoy a Reuben sandwich with homemade hot mustard, accompanied by one or several of Schilo’s famous homemade root beer. See the River Walk at night with dinner at Boudro’s Texas Bistro. Boudro’s menu pulls from the Texas plains (blackened prime rib) and the nearby Gulf (smoked shrimp enchiladas) and this romantic spot has the kind of evening ambience where diners don wool New Mexican ponchos (it cools down along the canal-like San Antonio River). For historical dining, choose The Oro Restaurant, located in the Emily Morgan Hotel. This former hospital is the official hotel of the Alamo. While you enjoy the signature margarita, “The Don,” and executive chef Chris Cook’s regional, fresh flavours, glance through those gaping windows at the high stone walls of the adjacent Alamo and make your own private history.

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The Texas trio of Dallas, Austin, San Antonio make an easy circle trip

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